How Dark is Too Dark for you?

~MILD SPOILER ALERT and TRIGGER WARNING~

My co-authors and I purposely wrote our books for Human Surrender with the idea of “dark non-con” in mind. That had been Alta’s vision for the set and we were all excited to try it out. I think I can safely say we all may have shocked ourselves with what came out!

At once point, while we were still writing, Sue Lyndon asked, “Okay, can I ask… what is the harshest thing your hero does to your heroine in your story?”

I confessed, “There is one moment that I’m a little nervous about where he yanks her leash and it pulls her off her feet and hurts her neck. I may have gone too far with that one…”

Aubrey Cara replied that she hadn’t been bothered by those scenes when she beta read my book, but the face-slapping had surprised her, but she went with it.

Sue’s concern in her own story was about the hero threatening to beat her bloody (that’s common in her alien’s culture). I told her it sounded hot as long as he didn’t actually do it. 🙂

Alta Hensley said about her hero, “He doesn’t exactly whip her, but the belt he uses to choke her out, he uses extremely harsh on her. Yeah…I’m taking this to a whole new level.”

Kallista posted, “Are we all a little twisted? The twins capture my heroine and take out their pain and anger on her in the beginning, punishing her repeatedly, forcing her to give them blow jobs and fucking her in the ass because they think she was part of the pirate crew [who hurt them].”

Aubrey’s response was to that, “Color me intrigued.” LOL!

I had one beta reader tell me she couldn’t get through the set because it was too dark. I was not at all offended– I totally understand about not wanting to go there!

I’m curious, for those of you who have now read Human Surrender (or those who haven’t, but have read books that pushed your limits)– which scenes or elements were too much for you? Were they the ones we worried about, or was it something else?

Comments

I think I can read almost anything (it is after all 100% made up). Out of several hundred books I’ve read (across all genres), I’ve had only one book that I’ve ever had to DNF due to truly brutal non-con. As a reader, I pretty much draw the line at stranger to stranger forceable r@pe. I’ll do dubcon (even really, REALLY dubious consent) all day long, but if it’s a “woman/man gang-r@ped in a back alley,” type of story, I just … can’t.

I think the answer to this as a writer is a LOT more complicated though (especially since I’m a dude writing in these genres). For instance, my darkest title to date, Captive, Mine (written with Natasha Knight) had a few scenes I wrote that I have to admit weren’t the easiest to write (at the time). I wrote them though because they made sense for the story/character, and because I told myself that for that project I was going to try something new as a writer, push the ol’ comfort zones/boundaries and such.

It’s interesting that someone mentioned face-slapping (in a BDSM context). As a reader, I find it hot in a super twisted way — IF it’s written well. I know — way too subjective, isnt it? It’s really hard to get that particular kink “right,” IMO. In another of my novels, I have a face-slapping scene, and I confess that as a writer I was sweating BULLETS about putting it in, but it was perfect for the character and dynamic. I was SUPER conflicted about it as a writer (and I’m still not sure I could ever bring myself to do it in real life…). Thankfully, most readers seemed to roll with it, which was a relief:)

I’ve evolved since then, I guess (in more ways than one), and try my very best to stay open-minded to things, always reminding myself that the written word is the only safe (and appropriate) place to explore some of these darker themes/fantasies. I’ll be interested to see what other responses you get to this question…

(PS – Haven’t read the Human Surrender anthology yet, but I bought it, and it’s high on my TBR!)

As a rule, I’m not a huge fan of non-consent, but I lined up quickly to purchase Human Surrender and it’s in my TBR pile because I’ve enjoyed previous works of the participating authors, so I’m interested to see what happens in these stories. That said, I think more than dubious non-consent, blind consent bothers me. People should have limits and for a heroine to blindly accept whatever the hero wants to do to her as if she has no rational mind of her own bothers me. Some readers find non-consent hot (dubious or otherwise) but not me. The hero may do things the heroine objects to because he thinks its for her own good, but at some point I think he needs to get a clue that taking away her right to say no is simply being a bully, and I can’t admire heroes who start out as bullies and never change.

Heroes who whip or beat the heroine until she is bloody and passed out, lose serious brownie points with me. I need there to be an underlying cause for his behavior (e.g., if he doesn’t hurt her she’ll be tortured or killed by others) but he shouldn’t enjoy (get off on) hurting her in that way. A truly sadistic hero can’t be a romantic hero for me. I can read stories where the protagonists are sadists and masochists, but I rarely find them romantic. Interesting maybe, but not romantic. For me, it comes down to motivation. If I feel the hero genuinely cares for the heroine, even if he initially seems cruel or unfeeling, I can forgive a lot with the hope he’ll soon change his ways. Stubbornness is acceptable to a point, but after a while it gets monotonous.

I’m currently reading a book where the hero clearly cares for his mate, but he refuses to consider her dissenting opinion has any validity. He thinks he can seduce her into his way of thinking and that his way is the right way. Unfortunately, I think he is in sore need of an attitude adjustment. Then again, others could find his overbearing arrogance erotic. Each to his own, which is why an author needs to write the story the way she thinks fits the characters and situations best. Authors take readers on a journey. Some may follow through to the end, and enjoy the trip, while others may choose to take the nearest exit. Each of us has to make that decision for ourselves. Insightful post, Renee